A Stroke of Mischievous Fortuity
by jesuislapamplemousse
Summary: Gabriel comes across someone in New Mexico who reminds him of himself.


_The time line is not specific._

_I own nothing._

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><p>Gabriel had heard about the so-called "disturbances" in New Mexico by word of mouth. It wasn't on television, but he doesn't watch much of it these days, anyway. What with Lucifer running amok and all, he just didn't have time. The mischievous angel heard it from a friend of a friend, who lived in the town it all took place in. Was currently taking place in.<p>

Gabriel sighed. Through some warped sense of obligation (he didn't think he had any, anymore) he let some twerp, a minor god whose name he can hardly remember, convince him he needed to go and "clear his name" or whatever. It wasn't Gabriel's job, or Oxossi's, no matter what domain he lay claim over, to snoop at some top secret government controlled site.

But, of course, Gabriel was still a trickster. He couldn't resist checking the place out.

He got there too late, from what he could make of the town. Little... whatever-it-was-called, New Mexico looked like a war zone when Gabriel finally visited. He was glad he was a latecomer, simply because he knew, had he been in the thick of it, his whiny brothers would have expected him to take care of it. He was only one angel, he could only do so much. And, from the looks of it, he couldn't have done much. The main road Gabriel so conspicuously appeared on was practically deserted, the road and surrounding buildings torn up and charred nearly beyond recognition. One place, a diner, still seemed to be operating, despite a large piece of plywood currently serving as a window.

The roguish seraph headed toward the diner, intent on a post-travel snack. And he simply wanted to figure out what happened. Gabriel trusted in his ability to weed out the truth.

A bell on the door clanked against another piece of wood, protecting the inside from a shattered part of the glass. Out of about six patrons and two waitresses, one glanced up at Gabriel when he entered. A little boy whose mother quickly told him not to stare. Gabriel couldn't help but give the woman an impish wink.

He sat at a two person table, next to the plywood window. He sat with his back to a wall, no longer trusting to turn his back on anyone. Before those stupid brothers released Lucifer, he couldn't have cared less where he sat. But these days he was a little nervous. Not that he would admit it.

A blonde, tired looking waitress brought him coffee and a plastic covered menu, scurrying away before he could ask her any questions. He took a sip of the bitter liquid, unlike his angel brethren who would never touch the stuff, and winced. He poured five packets of sugar into it, old habits died hard, and turned to the menu. When the waitress returned, he ordered a stack of pancakes and requested whipped cream and strawberries on top. Perhaps more boisterously than necessary, he inquired if the syrup could be brought to the table. The waitress, visibly unnerved by his behavior, nodded silently and all but ran away.

So the people here had been frightened.

He sat, cranky, gulping at his coffee. Bored, he swiped a newspaper from an old man who wasn't looking, snickering when he heard the other's distress.

The bell on the door clanked, again.

'I can't believe this place is open,' a girl's voice, the loudest he'd heard aside from his own, made Gabriel glance up. Two women, one dark haired and lively and the other sort of mousey looking and somewhat older, had entered the diner. Gabriel didn't bother hiding a look of annoyance when the pair sat at the table nearest him.

'A business is a business, Darcy. Can't let a few busted windows keep them closed,' the older woman said. Gabriel noticed that she sounded tired. He wondered if she could tell him what had happened.

Just as he was about to stand, a short stack was set in front of him. Service was quick with so few customers. He decided the women could wait and set about smothering his pancakes in syrup.

'Are we going out to the desert to watch again, tonight?' Darcy, the dark, loud one, asked. He couldn't see the mousey ones face, only her back, but he saw her lean forward and heard her shush Darcy. 'Oh right, sorry,' Darcy rolled her eyes, 'super-top-secret SHIELD stuff. Blah blah blah. I want some waffles.'

From what Gabriel could tell, around his own food, the other woman was getting irritated. He smirked, mouth sticky. He liked this Darcy girl.

'You know that's not strictly SHIELD sanctioned, first of all, and second, I really don't like you antagonizing me about it,' the other woman, whose name Gabriel had yet to learn, attempted to whisper. He ate a piece of strawberry and kept eavesdropping.

'Jane, you know I'm just teasing you. All I'm saying is, it's been nearly a week and we've heard nothing,' Darcy paused as a waitress filled their coffee mugs. When she left, the dark haired woman continued, 'Also, it's cold at night. And you keep dragging me along.'

Gabriel assumed Jane's reaction was a responding eye roll.

'Fine. You don't have to come. I'll take Erik, or something,' Jane, dipping her head to take a sip of coffee, muttered.

Darcy scoffed. 'We both know that's a long shot. He's been so busy with his pet project all of a sudden. We might as well not exist, it's just him and that Fury guy,' she said.

While the pair ordered, Gabriel finished his pancakes and thought. What was this SHIELD the two kept talking about? He was familiar with most human law enforcement agencies, yet the name didn't strike a bell. And it had to be something serious, judging from the way they spoke. The angel wasn't thick.

He pounced as soon as the waitress left. 'Excuse me,' he started, leaving his table to stand above that of the women. 'But I'm not from around here, and I was just wondering what happened outside?' He hadn't tried to fool humans much, lately, so the trickster was worried he'd be rusty.

'Oh, there was a gas explosion,' Jane answered, too quickly for it to be the truth. Gabriel refrained from being the next to roll his eyes.

'Really? That's odd. I've seen them before and, well, this doesn't look like one,' he heard his voice get sharp, and mentally scolded himself. He saw Jane tense and glance at Darcy.

'That's all I know, sir,' she said, too timid for her words to have any effect.

'Well, what about this SHIELD I keep hearing you mention?' Gabriel leaned in closer, being a bit meaner than usually intended. But he didn't want to spend all day trying to fool this woman into trusting him.

Jane froze, her pretty face now resembling a deer. 'Wh-what do you mean?' she asked, half-heartedly. The angel quickly readjusted his perception of the girls. They were inexperienced, and obviously not true agents of this mystery facility.

The angel pulled over a chair. 'Let's chat, shall we?'

The trickster smiled.

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><p>Selvig hadn't slept in two days. He groaned, straightening from his hunched position over his desk and heard his back crackle. The man knew he needed a nap, but the research, the cube, all of it had consumed his mind the past few days. He needed a moment of clarity, a nice doze, though something in his mind kept egging him on to keep working, don't stop working...<p>

He made it to the couch in the lounge across from his office before he fell dead asleep.

Jane and her party of two were greeted by his raspy snores, audible out the door and down the hall from where he slept. She breathed a sigh of relief, despite her own predicament, that the old man was finally getting some rest.

'So, Mr.' Jane hesitated, the slightly scary man hadn't given a last name, 'Gabriel. This is our research facility.' She cleared her throat, self conscious in front of the strange man who claimed to be from the NSA. SHIELD had given her stuff back, but could they keep this other agency from taking it away again?

The man nodded, a wicked spark of something in his eyes, and allowed himself a look around.

Gabriel wasn't impressed. The woman had rambled on about Thor and a 'Destroyer' and the mythical mjolnir for a while in the diner, her companion simply looking on with a half petrified expression. The angel had expected Jane to succumb to his words easily, but not so excitedly.

Nevertheless, he found out what had caused all the trouble, and that it was resolved. Thor and his mighty group of crime fighting miscreants, or whatever, came in and saved the day, and Thor went back to his happy world of Norse crap. Gabriel found he was no longer interested. The inhabitants of Asgard were all well and good, but they were even less concerned with Earth than Gabriel and his time as Trickster. They were only involved in themselves, much like it sounded Thor was, and their petty conflicts with the frozen idiots of Jotunheim.

As an angel, Gabriel looked down on the immortals with something akin to distaste, in favor of the human mortals. He felt bad for Jane, so obviously enamored with her Norse god of thunder. He made a mental note to pop over to Heimdall, one Asgardian he sometimes had a nice talk with, and ask what was keeping the muscled hero from his ladylove.

He was just so considerate, sometimes.

Gabriel was just through looking at all of the astrophysicist's gadgets when he felt...something. A shift in the space around them. He felt suspicious, all of a sudden, and remembered the snoring man. He hoped to his Father it wasn't Lucifer, or one of his cronies, because he thought he could avoid all of that today.

He stepped over to the hallway, stopping to look down it. The air around him felt heavy with some kind of power, but he could smell no demons.

'Who's that?' he asked. Gabriel sensed Jane jumped in surprise somewhere behind him.

'Um, Erik Selvig. A colleague,' she answered. Gabriel decided to check. He figured it was nothing, anyway.

The man was completely passed out on the couch, when Gabriel entered the room, so he figured he was just being jumpy for no reason. He hated the idea.

While the angel watched the drooling man, he heard a voice speak into his ear.

'_Nothing here. I will go now_.'

Gabriel shook his head to clear it.

'_I will go now_.'

The voice again. Smooth, with an accent. But it wasn't Lucifer's. It wasn't cruel enough, it was almost...mischievous. Like a past life of his.

Gabriel's eyes widened and his lips curled into a smirk as his memory came back to him. _Thor_, he told himself, _is Norse mythology. Just like—_

'Loki,' the divine trickster spoke. He felt the air beside him shiver, as though surprised.

Had he been paying attention, he would not have allowed the young god to pin him against the wall by use of magic. He heard Jane come running, and personally slammed the door shut to keep her out. A tall, dark haired, and beaten man in armor appeared before him. His face hinted at the same naughty thoughts Gabriel sometimes had, especially when he chose to completely forget about his celestial background.

'How did you know?' the voice was the same as the one in his ear. This imposter thought he could top the _original_. Gabriel practically wanted to spit at him.

'Let me go, how about that,' he said, struggling against magical bonds. The god, this other Loki, was a sorcerer, so his power was strong. But Gabriel was still an angel. He would be free no matter what. Eventually.

'Who are you?' Loki asked. Gabriel ignored him and kept struggling. He had never done this to people. It was so rude.

Loki strengthened his power, preventing the other trickster from so much as squirming. Gabriel started to have murderous thoughts and wondered where he put that sword of his.

'You know, this isn't really the warm welcome I would have expected from a fine trickster such as yourself,' Gabriel said, knowing the god would recognize the nickname. 'I practically created you, man, and this is the thanks I get? Sure, sometimes I steal your name. But you stole my livelihood.' He was just talking now, trying to distract tall, pale, and pissy from noticing his first few attempts at moving.

'Trickster? What sort of name is that? So childish and friendly,' Loki said. Gabriel frowned. He quite liked it.

His right hand was free.

'Call me Gabriel, then,' he said. Loki released the angel in disguise, though whether it was because the god noticed he was escaping or out of kindness, Gabriel wasn't sure.

Selvig snorted on the couch, momentarily reminding the pair of his presence.

'Listen, Loki, my man,' Gabriel shook himself and reached into his jacket. 'Whatever you're doing here, you've got to go back to that realm of yours. Causing trouble in the pagan communities just isn't going to cut it these days. Christianity has enough on its hands.'

'What are you dithering on about?' Loki, watching Gabriel's hands though doing nothing to stop them, remarked.

'You and all the questions,' Gabriel sighed. He paused, as an idea dawned on him. 'Okay, how about this. I let you play about, mess with some people, just tell them your name. You can help me. Throw the bad guys off my trail, know what I mean?' The angel smiled good naturedly. All Loki did was stare.

'I have no connection to you, human, and I owe you nothing,' Loki said, voice even and just a bit condescending.

'Yeah, see, that's where you're wrong,' Gabriel, having finally found his blade amid a jumble of pockets, pulled it out and held it for Loki to see. The god couldn't hide the confusion that turned into fear. 'You have three options my friend. One, you go back to Asgard and stop screwing around on this planet,' Gabriel didn't allow Loki to interject, 'Two, I stab you in the heart with this blade and we can see how well it works on gods, or three, you make yourself known and throw some enemies of mine off the trail. That last one doesn't sound bad to me.'

Gabriel's blade followed Loki's movement as he shifted on his feet. Deep, green eyes stared at it, contemplating the effectiveness of the weapon against an immortal. He looked up and half smiled.

'Sounds like a deal, so long as you leave me alone. What, I just go around and tell people my name?' Loki responded in a fiendish tone. The tricksters couldn't help but be fascinated by the acts of their name; tricks.

Gabriel gave him a big smile, throwing his arms in the air as though in celebration. Loki's eyes still followed the blade, colored silver yet of an unknown metal.

'Oh just make yourself obvious. A few pranks here, a few time loops there... and change out of the getup. No demon is stupid enough to think I would wear that,' Gabriel said, in good cheer again. He got something out of this trip, in the end.

Since Gabriel was still holding his blade, Loki bowed his head in agreement. 'I do not wished to be involved with demons, but I will provide this service for you so long as you leave me. Now, if you don't mind, I have some business of my own,' Loki, voice silky as ever, nodded at Selvig.

'Oh of course! Go ahead! Knock yourself out!' Gabriel put away his blade, still smiling. This was incredibly fortuitous. With the other Loki, he would be able to go underground for a while, figure out his game plan.

And he wouldn't have to tell the others about it.

Yes, incredibly fortuitous.

Gabriel disappeared with a displacement of air, leaving behind three ignorant humans and a Norse god who, Gabriel figured, would be killed within the month if he wasn't careful. He could already sense the demons gathering and smiled, again.

They would tell Lucifer that Loki was dead, and that was a good thing. The trickster counted on it.


End file.
